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An Otherworldly Scholar - 174
🕑 Added 2024-11-05 23:04:45 +0000 UTC“I know that man. He’s the Lich,” I said.
The System Avatar intruded into my memories, and it felt like acquiring a new skill. My brain was pressed and squeezed, flattened and built again. I wanted to puke, and I would do it if I were in my actual body, but everything around me was just a vision of the System. The sun disappeared, and stone walls grew around us. We were inside a cave. The ceiling was five or six meters above our heads, but we weren’t all that deep. The light of day entered the cave from the entrance.
We were in the cave where I first fought the Lich.
“The System can read your memories, remember?” the System Avatar apologetically said.
“I know,” I asked as the scene around me slowly became sharper. Memories seemed to need time to load. “My brain was scanned when I first arrived, wasn’t it?”
The System Avatar nodded.
“I wrote a rune that triggers a mind-reading spell. The spell becomes an input and tells the System you want to cast a skill. Passives, like your [Swordsmanship], work with a continuous hypnosis spell feeding information directly to your mind,” the System Avatar explained as my memory loaded. “Your [Intimidation] skill is an interesting one. After a level check, the System casts a mind-control spell on the target, implanting fear in their brain and erasing it when the skill ends.”
I nodded, fighting against the nausea. The System wasn’t anything but runes and spells following a certain logic. The revelation didn’t come as a surprise, considering the amount of Fountain mana the people from Ginz’s office could use.
I wondered why they had so much power compared to the natives of this world.
There was something the System Avatar wasn’t telling me.
If otherworlders had so much power, my Class might be a leash instead of a help.
“Wait,” I said. “Does that mean I will have to learn true magic to fix the System?”
The System Avatar shrugged.
“If we ever get to that point. First, we need to deal with the Corruption snowball.”
Days and nights passed in a second.
The next moment, I was standing in the middle of the cave, blocking the Lich’s path. It wasn’t actually me, but a memory. The Lich stood before me, his hand stretched forward, touching my chest. Black tentacles of Corruption moved under my skin. The Rob from the memory tried to yell, but no sound came from his mouth. I was getting converted into a Corrupted monster. Then, at the very last moment, Loki jumped out of my pocket. With a black whirl of mana, he turned into the man of the Avatar’s memory—Alex from R&D.
How dare you!
The Lich yelled directly into my brain.
“How dare you!” Loki replied, channeling a sea of flames from the palms of his hands.
Primal mana flowed through my hands as the Corruption severed my contact with the System.
Give it back!
Then, I performed true magic. The ceiling melted, and the System Avatar paused the memory. He approached Loki and examined his human form: black, straight, long hair, pale skin, and blue eyes, dressed in a red tunic.
“This is Alex from R&D, but why?” he muttered.
Then, the realization hit me.
“The Lich isn’t asking me to give back his powers because I’m not using his power. I’m using the Fountain,” I said. “He’s asking Loki to return his appearance, his body.”
The System Avatar was in shock.
“Gag me with a spoon. You turned yourself into an undead, Alex… no, it must be a coincidence. He would’ve never. The Changeling must’ve been born in the late development stage and saw our memories. There’s no way Alex turned himself into an undead,” he muttered.
Despite the System Avatar’s denial, I knew the Lich was the man from his memories.
“It’s him. The Lich recognized the runes. He knows who you are,” I said with a severe tone. “Fast forward to our last encounter, a few days ago. He mentioned you and wanted me to give him the Access Rune.”
The System Avatar cursed.
“If you knew all of this, why didn’t you mention it earlier!” he yelled, all traces of his cold, machine-like demeanor gone.
“You were having a mental breakdown!” I shouted back.
A wave of nausea hit me. The scene changed to my fight against the Lich in the Chrysalimorph’s body. Behind a fallen tree, I saw Pyrrah and Hallas cowering like baby owls during a thunderstorm. They were horrified. In the middle of the clearing, beside the fallen pine, the Lich ranted about the bigger and meaner things prowling in the deep Farlands.
“Oh my God. This is worse than I expected,” the System Avatar said. “The Access Rune is dangerous, but this is even worse. Alex knows every single nook and cranny of the System. He could dismantle the System in a single day if he wanted. He could make changes…”
I massaged my temples.
“That scene has been in my brain for months now. Why didn't you notice before?” I grunted.
The System Avatar glared at me, offended.
“Well, sorry for respecting your privacy,” he sharply said. “Do you even know how many hours my living self spent convincing everyone not to add a subroutine to zap anyone with the slightest murderous intent? Because it’s not that hard. The System can be a slave collar with very few changes. Look at the Zealots!”
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
“Let’s think. This might be our only chance to get in contact in a while,” I said. I needed to know more about my enemy. “The Lich can use true spells like you and the HR woman. Am I right?”
The System Avatar nodded, understanding the intentions behind the question.
“Alex could animate puppets. It was very useful in and out of combat, but he never explained how he created them. After the initial fiasco, sharing information about our skills became taboo,” he said. “The puppets acted like Alex as if they inherited part of his personality.”
Puppets. It made sense he turned into a Lich. His bodies I’ve met weren’t the real ones but fakes.
“If we don’t find his real body, we can’t kill him,” I said.
A devilish grin appeared on the System Avatar’s face. “He’s using a node as a hideout. I know it. I smell foul play. There’s no way so much Corruption appeared in such little time.”
“A node?” I asked.
System technicalities were outside my range of expertise.
“The System has four levels. The centralized code connecting to the Fountain, transmission nodes in charge of computation, proxies serving as a bridge, and the end users,” the System Avatar said, still grinning. “Technically, the example is wrong, but it is the best way to visualize it. What’s important is that we cast powerful camouflage spells to cloak the nodes. Users and non-users can’t find them. The System blocks the users, and the non-users don’t have strong enough spells to dispel the mirages. However, the Access Rune will allow you to find them.”
I grinned back. The Lich would pay for everything he had done to me and the kids.
“So, which node are we looking for?” I asked.
“There are dozens of nodes in the area, but one has been malfunctioning a lot more than the others,” the System Avatar said. “Remember the set of coordinates I gave you? The zero represents the starting point, where I gave the coordinates to your orc student. The next three digits are an angle. East is zero degrees, north ninety degrees, and so on. The rest is the distance between you and the location, in meters, of course. I’m not a barbarian.”
I closed my eyes and remembered the number—nine digits—012768012. Our target was sixty-eight kilometers and twelve meters northwest of the position Wolf had received the coordinates. Without [Foresight] assisting me, it was hard to do the mental math, but as soon as the System Avatar let me go, I could subtract the distance from the starting point to Umolo and figure out where to go from there.
“Do you think you could’ve decrypted it without my help?” the System Avatar asked with a smug smile.
“It would’ve taken me less than a day. Not many sets of coordinates work if you don’t have a map.” I replied.
The memory around us trembled, and I knew our reunion was coming to an end.
“The security subroutine?”
The System Avatar nodded. “Killing the Lich and getting rid of the Corrupted node might give us enough time… are you still on board with my plan, right? You don’t feel like pulling a Byrne?”
I raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know, man. You don’t seem to be putting much effort into it, and I am a technology junkie. I’m sure a load of guns will solve the whole Corruption matter.”
The System Avatar wasn’t happy with my answer.
“You know I can’t boost you if that’s what you hint. I’m not in control of almost anything, really. Other than these pockets of memory hidden in the proxies, I cannot edit the code.”
I scratched my chin, deep in thought. If the System Crystals worked as the bridge between users and nodes, he might code something I needed. Maybe it wouldn’t be helpful to combat the Lich, but I was confident in my ability to kick his ass without any external help.
“I want to give Wolf a chance to live the life he intends. The Greyfangs offered him to scrub the System, so I assume this Crystal can do that,” I said.
The System Avatar nodded. “I can write a suspension subroutine. Give me your hand.”
The Avatar’s hand closed around my wrist like a steel pincer. Then, the pain blinded me. I felt like someone pressed a red hot branded iron against the palm of my hand. He let me go, and I pulled back. I examined the area, but the rune disappeared without a trace.
There was no sign of damage.
“It will work once, so be careful,” the System Avatar said. “Please, Robert, kill that rat.”
The vision trembled, and everything went black. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the System Crystal room in Umolo citadel. It was night, and I knew not a second had passed since I brushed my fingers against the crystal. The crystal, however, lost its color, and its surface turned opaque, just like it had happened with the one in Farcrest.
[Foresight] activated again, and a flood of information streamed into my brain. It took me a moment to regulate the amount of mana of the skill. I had a lot of thinking to do.
I used the wind-shot boots to propel myself into the ceiling platform and exited the room. Without being seen, I returned to the base camp. I examined my hand. The rune was barely visible, even after sharpening my mana sense to the extreme. Now, I needed the opportunity to talk to Wolf.
_____
Breakfast was more active than usual.
“No. There’s no way I’m doing that,” Ilya said, smashing his bowl against the table in protest.
We were sitting on the floor next to the fire pit, having breakfast early in the morning. The seven of us were cramped around the small table, eating rice pudding. Hallas clung to me, trying to put space between himself and Firana. The girl gestured with her spoon, throwing slimy rice grains all around.
“I volunteer! I’m a very good negotiator,” Firana said, jumping in place.
“Bullying Zaon into sharing his food isn’t negotiating, Firana. This is Ilya’s job,” I said, stopping her before Ilya could seize the moment and bail out.
Firana groaned and rolled her eyes.
The orcs of the outer camp wanted to meet me, but I was too busy enchanting bullets with Ginz to negotiate with them. I had a secret weapon, though. My loyal second in command. Ilya.
“This is not going to end well,” Ilya said, massaging her temples.
“It doesn’t matter if things go south. You just need to make an appearance. We will not stay at Umolo for long. We will go on a trip as soon as we finish with the weapons,” I announced.
The group was caught by surprise.
“I know where the Lich’s original body can be hidden. If we want to stop the Monster Surge and return home, we must destroy it. And, most importantly, if the Lich is gone, the Forest Warden will die too,” I said, glancing at the elves.
They nodded, eager to get going.
“So, what should I offer them?” Ilya asked, leaving her bowl aside and putting the cloak over her shoulders.
“Defensive items, enchanted armor and shields, but don’t go overboard. Enchanting ammunition is our priority,” I replied. “Remember. Our goal is to make friends, not servants. Treat them fairly, but don’t let them push you around.”
Ilya nodded and took Zaon with her.
With the cat out of the bag, it wasn’t necessary to keep hiding my runeweaving skills. I had promised to give Hallas and Pyrrah enchanted armor as a ‘consolation prize’ after my refusal to enchant guns from them. They seemed satisfied with the outcome but hadn’t seen the true strength of fire weapons yet. That was a problem for the future Rob. For the moment, the elven duo was cooperative.
I had a lot of work to do, so I put my bowl down and sat in the corner of the room to continue with the bullet enchanting. Ginz worked at a surprising speed, and after a night of work, we had almost a hundred bullets ready. We would need several times more for a long trip.
“I’ll go patrol the wall,” Hallas said.
“I’ll go too,” Pyrrah said, giving me a knowing look.
They were going to spy on the Greyfangs.
“Don’t you have a mission for me?” Firana asked just to add quickly. “A mission that doesn’t involve washing dishes?”
Ginz laughed. “Washing the dishes from time to time won’t kill you.”
Firana showed him her tongue.
“I have a mission for someone with your skills. Dassyra doesn’t want me to contact Wolf, but I need you to pass him a message,” I whispered. Without Ilya’s spirit animal, I wouldn’t know if the elves were spying on the Greyfangs or ourselves. Despite wanting to trust them, I couldn’t, not after Janus’ betrayal.
Firana looked at me, confused.
“Tell Wolf the Greyfangs aren’t trustworthy, but if he wants, I can get rid of his Class,” I said.
Firana didn’t even ask how I could remove someone’s class and darted out of the tent.
It was Ginz who asked, shifting away from me as if I was a venomous snake.
“You can do that?”
“I met the System Avatar last night and asked him for a one-time favor,” I replied. “I have bad news. We have to hurry with the bullets. If we don’t kill the Lich, Corruption will get out of control and break the System sooner than expected.”
Ginz held a Ghoul bone shard before his eyes, scanning for imperfections.
At this point, he seemed used to such news.
“Do you think we should live like orcs and elves? Without the System, I mean. I’ve been thinking, and maybe errors are unavoidable. As a craftsman, sometimes, you don’t realize the failures in the materials until later,” Ginz asked as the bone cracked between his fingers.
Byrne had reached the same conclusion. The System was faulty by design, and the only way out was for it to disappear, even if the current generation would have to pay for the Corruption debt of their parents and grandparents.
“Would you renounce your Class?” I asked.
Ginz grinned. “In a couple more years, at this rate, I will be a Prestige Class—the only Prestige craftsman in Farcrest. I don’t know if I’d be able to renounce that. I don’t know if anyone would renounce their Class. I know, though, that if a hobo like you comes out of nowhere saying the end of the System is near, nobody will.”
I laughed. Ginz had a point. The Classes weren’t just tools but people’s identities and the reflection of their worth and efforts. It would require generations to create a paradigm shift, and time wasn’t on our side.
We continued talking for hours as we crafted the bullets, and I realized how much I missed the orphanage.
After a while, Ginz sighed.
“The creator of the System made a mistake. After seeing the illusions of your homeland, I believe humans aren’t supposed to do magic at all,” Ginz said. “Maybe our greatest gift was creativity, and the System killed it before we could use it. With the System in place, we didn’t have the necessity of inventing anything.”
I had the uneasy feeling Ginz was about to enter his mad inventor arc.
“Technology can be used to commit heinous—”
Suddenly, the ground trembled, and the specks of environmental mana quivered.
An area spell?
It didn’t feel as such.
“Stay here,” I said, grabbing the enchanted leather jacket and jumping outside the tent.
My gut told me this wasn’t a regular earthquake.
Before I could go far, a bright light from the horizon blinded me. Not even the stone wall protected me. I covered my eyes with my arm. The world was saturated with mana. Even with a high-level mana sense, I saw nothing but a bright haze wrap it all up.
After a moment, the light receded, and I opened my eyes.
Beyond the horizon, a tree rose hundreds of meters into the sky.
Comments
Ben Bass
Exactly, talk about a way to really take the wind out of Janus’ sails!
I Dare Korval
If Wolf doesn't take the offer, it's a perfect weapon against Janus.
Emmanuel Dixon
I'd still like to experience a system though
Emmanuel Dixon
A bit naive/short sighted of Rob to say that technology can be used for heinous things. when the system is used for heinous things. What exactly does he want them to use and what exactly is he trying to warn Ginz against that others arent already doing or have done in this world? If man in yellow's memories are unbiased about how brutal the world is what are they supposed to do if they can't use the system and technology can be used for heinous things?
Ben Bass
TYFTC! So the System is holding on by the skin of its teeth, and Rob’s timeline is constantly being accelerated. Sounds like a typical work project with stakeholders with unrealistic expectations and a limited budget, and it needs to be done now. Too bad Rob can’t identify the rune for the class removal, now THAT would be a way to truly damage and take out foes…
